Radiator deaeration baffle



May 1 1964 R. F. SUCHOMEL RADIATOR DEAERATION BAF'FLE Filed Aug. 11, 1960 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,132,690 RADIATOR DEAERATION RAFFLE Raymond F. Suchomel, Elmhurst, 111., assignor to International Harvester Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 11, 196i), Ser. No. 48,9134 Claims. (Cl. 165-410) This invention concerns heat exchangers and more particularly concerns an improved baffle structure for creating a relatively quiescent upper strata of cooling liquid in the upper tank of a radiator to increase the rate of breakdown of air-filled bubbles and liberation of air from the liquid.

When air is entrained in the liquid of liquid-type cooling systems for internal combustion engines, for example, air-filled bubbles are formed and these bubbles prevent eflicient contact of the liquid in heat-conducting relation with heat-transfer surfaces in the cooling system. The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved bafiie structure in the upper tank, of a radiator which may be of the type conventionally used with internal combustion engines, to direct part of the circulating liquid into an upper strata of such liquid that is separated by such bathe from the main flowing portion of the liquid and maintained relatively quiescent to increase the rate at which the air bubbles can surface.

The above and other desirable objects will become apparent from the ensuing specification, the appended claims, and the annexed drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through the upper tank of a radiator and in which a preferred species of the present invention is incorporated, this view being taken on line 11 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view of the radiator tank shown in FIGURE 1, the view being taken substantially upon the line 22 of FIGURE 1 whereby the bottom wall of the tank is omitted from this view.

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic view, of reduced scale, corresponding to FIGURE 1 but showing a modification in which the inlet is displaced laterally from the center of the radiator tank.

The drawings illustrate an orthodox radiator structure with which the improved deaeration baflle arrangement is associated. Only the upper tank of the radiator structure is shown together with upper end portions of vertical radiator core tubes that extend downwardly therefrom. The upper tank is designated 11 and is communicative with a lower tank (not shown) through the tubes 10. Horizontal fins 12, usually of copper, having holes pierced therein for receiving the tubes 10, conduct heat from the water or other cooling liquid delivered to the other upper tank from an engine, for example, through an inlet 13 at the location designated 13 and shown by dot-dash lines in FIGURE 1. A filler neck 14 with a closure cap 15 is on the upper wall 14a of the tank 11. The tank bottom wall 14]; contains openings 14c into which the upper ends of the tubes are disposed.

The present embodiment of the deaeration bafiie means is madeup of two bafiie plates, 16 and 17, which are disposed horizontally within the tank 11. The left end of the bafile 16 is welded to the left end wall 18 of the tank and the two long edges of the bafile 16 extending leftward from the wall 18 are respectively soldered into sealing relation with the front wall 19 of the tank and with the opposed rear wall 200. Baffie plate 17 at its left end overlaps the right end of the baffle plate 16 in superposed spaced relation thereto to form a narrow passageway 20 extending transversely all the way across the tank from the front wall 19 to the rear wall 20a. The baffle 17 is 3,132,696 Patented May 12, 1964 ice also soldered-sealed along its two long edges respectively to the front and rear walls of the tank 11. At its right end, bailie 17 is spaced from the right end wall 21 to form a passageway 22. When the radiator is operated in conjunction with an engine, the cooling liquid is forcibly circulated by a pump (not shown) of the engine that forces the water from the engine through the inlet 13 into the space or section of the radiator tank below the baffle plate means 16, 17. The water flows downwardly from the tank 11 through the vertical tubes 10 to the lower tank (not shown) and then back to the engine for recirculation through the engine and then back to the inlet 13 for repeating the cycle. This circulating water has a tendency to entrain bubbles of air which are unwanted because of their function to insulate the water from the passages which are to be cooled by the liquid in the engine. Some of the bubbles are disentrained from the body of water in the upper tank of conventional radiators while the air escapes through a tube' 23 communicating with the tank through a hole 24 in the filler neck 14. However, the amount of air thus disentrained from the body of water is not as great as desired and it is the purpose of the present invention to use the baflie plate means 16, 17 to increase the amount of air disentrained from the water.

Water entering the section of the tank below the baffle means 16, 17 through the inlet 13 flows both to the left and to the right to reach and flow downwardly through the tubes 10. Part of the water moving leftward from the inlet 13 to the tubes near the left end of the tank will enter the slit-like opening 20 by the effect of the inertia of this water to carry an upper stratum portion of the water in the lower tank section immediately adjacent the bafile plate means 16, 17 into the upper section of the tank above such baffle plate means. The passage 20 constitutes a sort of skimmer passage disposed between the inlet 13 and the left end of the tank, and this passage leads horizontally from the lower tank section into the upper tank section.

Normally this system will be filled with water to reach a level indicated by the dot-dash line 25. The Water entering through the skimmer passage 20 will be a relatively small quantity and metered by the size of this passage. The water entering the space above the baffle plate means through the passage 20 will follow somewhat the path represented by the line of arrows shown above the baflies so that after moving leftward toward the end wall 18, the water will slowly move across to the right wall 21 and then flow downwardly through the passage 22 into the tank section below the baffle plate 17. The water above the baffle plate means will be relatively quiescent because it is not subject to the turbulence of the stream of water coming in through the inlet 13. While the water is in this non-turbulent condition it is more susceptible to have the bubbles disentrained therefrom and for discharging the gas thereof outwardly through the hole 24 and the vent pipe 23.

By causing the liquid to flow first from the skimmer opening 20 to the left end of the upper quiescent section of the tank 11 and then reverse its flow to flow the full length of the tank to its opposite end 21 before discharging back into the lower section through the passage 22, considerable time is given for this Water to have the air disentrained therefrom. The vibration to which a radiator is normally subjected imparts such vibration to the liquid in the tank so that after the bubbles have risen to the surface in the upper tank section, this vibration of the liquid tends to break the surface tension of the films about the bubbles so the gas can escape.

In FIGURE 4, the modification there shown employs reference characters with a prime added to designate corresponding parts of the first species shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 3. The only difference between the FIGURE 3 species and the first species is the displacement of the inlet 13 rightward from the center of the tank 11'. This arrangement causes more of the water to how leftward from the inlet to the greater number of tubes as It) and thus increase the speed inertia of the water approaching the skimmer passage 20'.

Having described a limited number of species of the invention with the view of clearly and concisely illustrating the same, I claim:

1. In a radiator tank having a bottom Wall, opposite end walls, oposite side walls, an inlet in one of the side walls, and tubes communicating outwardly therefrom through the bottom wall; the improvement comprising a deaeration bathe structure including baflle plate means having upper and lower horizontally extending faces, means supporting said plate means in said tank upwardly from the bottom wall and with the lower horizontally extending face in opposed relation to such bottom wall, at least a portion of the lower bafile face being above said inlet, the bathe plate means dividing the tank into a lower section containing said bottom wall and an upper section and providing a communication passage between such sections adjacent one end of the tank, and the baflle plate means also having overlapping portions defining a skimmer passage disposed between said inlet and the other end of the tank and leading horizontally toward the other end of the tank from the lower tank section into the upper tank section.

2. In a radiator tank having a bottom wall, opposite end walls, oposite side walls, an inlet in one of the side walls, and tubes communicating outwardly therefrom through the bottom wall; the improvement comprising a deareatio-n batile structure including bathe plate means having overlapping portions mounted in said tank above said bottom wall and above said inlet and dividing said tank into a lower section and an upper section, said overlapping portions defining a skimmer passage leading toward one end wall and communicating between the tank sections between said inlet and the one end wall, and a return-flow passage means constituting substantially the only other communication between the tank sections and disposed between said other end wall and said inlet.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2, wherein said baffie plate means has an end spaced from said other end wall to form an edge of said return-flow passage.

4. The combination set forth in claim 2, wherein the inlet is disposed nearer to said other end wall than to the end wall opposite to said other end wall.

5. In a radiator tank having a bottom wall, opposite end walls, opposite side walls, an inlet in one of the side walls, and tubes communicating outwardly therefrom through the bottom wall; the improvement comprising a deaeration bafile structure including baffie plate means defining upper and lower sections of the tank and comprising a first baffle plate mounted horizontally in said tank above said bottom wall and above said inlet, said bafile plate having front and back edges connected in substantially sealing relation respectively with the front and back walls of the tank, said baffle plate having one end portion disposed between said inlet and the one end Wall and having an opposite end portion providing a return-flow passage to the tubes adjacent said other end wall of the tank, the baffle plate structure also including a second bafile plate mounted horizontally in said tank above said bottom wall, said second baffle plate having front and back edges and an end edge connected in substantially sealing relation respectively with the front and back walls and the one end wall of the tank, said second baflle plate having an opposite end portion disposed in closely overlapping spaced relation below the one end portion of the first bafile plate to form therewith a horizontally extending skimmer, passage leading toward the one end wall and communicating between the sections of the tank respectively below and above the baffle plate means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,450,399 Witte Apr. 3, 1923 2,628,079 Haynes et a1. Feb; 10, 1953 2,713,973 Hencken et al. July 26, 1955 2,735,622 Pintarelli Feb.-21, 1956 3,004,626 Brinen Oct. 17, 1961 

1. IN A RADIATOR TANK HAVING A BOTTOM WALL, OPPOSITE END WALLS, OPOSITE SIDE WALLS, AN INLET IN ONE OF THE SIDE WALLS, AND TUBES COMMUNICATING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM THROUGH THE BOTTOM WALL; THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A DEAERATION BAFFLE STRUCTURE INCLUDING BAFFLE PLATE MEANS HAVING UPPER AND LOWER HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING FACES, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID PLATE MEANS IN SAID TANK UPWARDLY FROM THE BOTTOM WALL AND WITH THE LOWER HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING FACE IN OPPOSED RELATION TO SUCH BOTTOM WALL, AT LEAST A PORTION OF THE LOWER BAFFLE FACE BEING ABOVE SAID INLET, THE BAFFLE PLATE MEANS DIVIDING THE TANK INTO A LOWER SECTION CONTAINING SAID BOTTOM WALL AND AN UPPER SECTION SECTION CONTAINING SAID BOTTOM WALL AND AN UPPER SECTION AND PROVIDING A COMMUNICATION PASSAGE BETWEEN SUCH SECTIONS ADJACENT ONE END OF THE TANK, AND THE BAFFLE PLATE MEANS ALSO HAVING OVERLAPPING PORTIONS DEFINING A SKIMMER PASSAGE DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID INLET AND THE OTHER END OF THE TANK AND LEADING HORIZONTALLY TOWARD THE OTHER END OF THE TANK FROM THE LOWER TANK SECTION INTO THE UPPER TANK SECTION. 